J.J. Adams: Whitecaps aim to come in from the cold with revitalized academy system

Georges Mukumbilwa represents the future of the Vancouver Whitecaps. He may not be the next Alphonso Davies, but he might be the beginning of a surge of Homegrown players the team will finally see populating the first team.

Georges Mukumbilwa, left, takes on Brett Levis during a practice session in January at the Vancouver Whitecaps training centre.Bob Frid /
PNG

Georges Mukumbilwa was 13 when he and his family emigrated to Canada from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They landed in Winnipeg in 2013, where he was soon introduced to the joys of a Manitoba winter.

“It was really cold. When I first saw snow, it was really cool,” he said. “And then … I got tired of it.”

And like countless other Canadians who have followed the same self-preserving path, the talented and gifted midfielder moved further west barely a year later, joining the Vancouver Whitecaps’ residency program in September 2014.

The Caps folded their USL affiliate two years ago, leaving a gaping void between the academy’s U-19 senior side and the Major League Soccer first team — exactly the age bracket that the now 19-year-old Mukumbilwa falls into.

But the club has moved to bridge that gap with a developmental U-23 team, a side that head coach Marc Dos Santos sees as almost an extension of the first team.

So far, he’s been as good as his word, following through on his philosophy of establishing a vertical integration of the youth sides toward the first team. Eight academy players, including Mukumbilwa, made the preseason trips to Hawaii and Los Angeles, where they were exposed to top-flight competition and training.

Mukumbilwa won praise from Dos Santos for his effort and progression during the trip, and the attention of Caps fans when he rang a 20-foot volley off the crossbar against the L.A. Galaxy in an exhibition match.

In first-team practices in February and much of March, the 5-10 winger hasn’t looked out of place — nor intimidated by going up against fast, flashy skill players such as Yordy Reyna or Lass Bangoura.

“It’s been really great. Really good. Playing with guys like that, learning from them … and coach Marc, I just want to thank him for giving me a chance,” said Mukumbilwa, a.k.a. “Georginho.”

“Yordy and Lass talk to me all the time when I’m on the field. They tell me what to do on the wing — they want me to dribble with the ball, and not release it so fast.

“Obviously Lass and Yordy have some tricky tricks … it’s hard to do what they can do. But I try to do my best to copy them.

“I’m really confident in myself. But I’m just going to keep working hard and see where the year takes me.”

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It has only been in the past two weeks that Mukumbilwa, and some of the younger players — Theo Bair, David Norman Jr., Brendan McDonough, Simon Colyn, Patrick Metcalfe — joined the developmental squad, which is about to embark on a three-game tour of England.

They’ll play Tuesday against AFC Bournemouth’s U-23, then March 30 against the Brighton & Hove Albion U-23 squad. A third game, opponent TBD, is scheduled for April 2.

They may be a U-23 team by name, but the average age is only 18.6.

So far this year, the young Caps have tied 2-2 with the Tacoma Defiance — the Seattle Sounders’ USL championship team — before losing to a Vancouver Metro Soccer League all-star squad (3-2) and the Victoria Highlanders (1-0). The Caps on Tuesday played Cavalry FC, the new Canadian Premier League side, and lost 2-0.

But the results aren’t going to be measured by wins and losses, said Nick Dasovic, who was hired in January to head up the U-23 team.

“It’s not if we lose, it’s how we lose. I would hate to win 5-0 and play terrible,” said the former Whitecap, 86er and Canadian soccer Hall of Famer.

“For me, it’s about letting these kids know what it takes to be a pro. And you have to absolutely own this development team to have any chance of going to the first team. You have to be a stud here.

“Marc watches, Marc talks, Marc asks ‘who’s doing well? We’ll bring them up.’ I think that helps in the development team that a kid knows if he does his duties, he’s got a chance to move up.”

The Whitecaps are hoping a reinvigorated recruitment system translates into more player-development success. Once the class of MLS in residency programs, the team was surpassed by other clubs and is fighting to regain ground on them.

Last week, the organization brought in 450 U13/14 players from across the country for a combine, which runs until this Sunday, where they played in front of the main academy staff. They were all players from the team’s development outposts — 22 centres in eight provinces — across the country.

Their system will instil the same principles and positional fundamentals in each level, keeping a homogeneous identity, so by the time they reach the U-19 or U-23 squad, they would be able to transition to the first team without having to worry about the style of play.

“This is not a one-month project. This is going to take years,” said Dasovic. “People are asking when the next Alphonso Davies is coming. Truth be told, I don’t know. I don’t know if there will be one. That’s the reality.

“It’s going to be a process (but) there’s no panic. No one’s going nuts here. Now it’s a matter of us pushing them through. We’re accountable for that. If it was easy, every club in the world would do it. It’s probably the hardest thing to do.”

Bair, Colyn, Norman Jr. and Michael Baldissimo have all signed homegrown contracts and are being groomed to eventually move up. Only Colyn and Norman Jr. have seen game time with the first team so far.

“I’ve told every kid here they could be a professional football player. But some aren’t going to be MLSers. They might be Swedish third division,” said Dasovic. “Not everyone can get to MLS right away. They all have their own path.”

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